No. 17 South Carolina hosts struggling Tennessee

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier yells at wide receiver Tori Gurley (81) after an incomplete pass against the Vanderbilt in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)
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South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier yells at wide receiver Tori Gurley (81) after an incomplete pass against the Vanderbilt in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)
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Tennessee coach Derek Dooley looks on as his team warms up before an NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)— AP

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley looks on as his team warms up before an NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
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Tennessee coach Derek Dooley looks at the clock in the final seconds of a NCAA college football game against, Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. Alabama won 41-10. (AP Photo/Lisa Norman-Hudson)— AP

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley looks at the clock in the final seconds of a NCAA college football game against, Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. Alabama won 41-10. (AP Photo/Lisa Norman-Hudson)
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South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier looks over his team prior to an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)— AP

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier looks over his team prior to an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)
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COLUMBIA, S.C. 
Steve Spurrier remembers all three South Carolina victories over Tennessee, even the one in 1992 when he wasn't the 17th-ranked Gamecocks' coach.

He would like to make beating the Vols more routine, starting on Saturday.

Though the three wins South Carolina does own have all been special.

In 1992 Spurrier's Florida Gators had to have outside help to win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division and the Gamecocks, in their first season as SEC members, obliged with a stunning 24-23 victory over the 16th-ranked Vols.

"That was a memorable day," Spurrier recalled. "That was a day that Florida beat Georgia, and we needed somebody to beat Tennessee to win the Eastern Division, which happened that year."

Spurrier was the Gamecocks coach for their only two series wins since then, each memorable in their own right. South Carolina won at Tennessee in 2005, Spurrier's debut season, for the first time ever. Then two years ago, the Gamecocks dominated the Vols 27-6 and the school announced shortly after that longtime coach Phil Fulmer would not return.

Spurrier and the Gamecocks host the struggling Vols (2-5, 0-4 SEC) this weekend.

"Tennessee's a little bit in a down slump, as several teams are," Spurrier said. "But we can't worry about that."

South Carolina (5-2, 3-2) has much bigger, Tennessee-type things on its mind, like reaching the SEC championship game. The Gamecocks lead the SEC East and are the division's only two loss team. Things fall Spurrier's way this weekend and he's playing for a spot in the Georgia Dome the following week against Arkansas.

"We see these things. We just have to keep a level head," said Brian Maddox, who had a career-high 146 yards in last week's 21-7 win at Vanderbilt. "We know it's there. We just have to kind of put it in the back of our minds."

Spurrier's done his best to make sure South Carolina keeps its focus week-to-week the past few games with so-so results. The Gamecocks held fourth-quarter leads at Auburn and Kentucky before losing those contests, yet quickly bounced back from both contests the following game - most notably for South Carolina with its 35-21 upset of No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 9.

The Vanderbilt win last week showed Spurrier his players had some ability to fight off adversity and achieve. The Gamecocks were tied 7-all at the half and playing without injured freshman star Marcus Lattimore in the backfield. Still, they rallied to the win.

"It was sort of good to be tied at halftime and win the game last week," Spurrier said. "The two we'd lost, heck, we were leading going into the fourth quarter in both of them. So, we didn't finish well a couple of games. We ended up finishing against Vandy a lot better. That's probably what we're going to need to do if we're going to be successful down the stretch here."

Tennessee's probably not sure what it can do to avoid a disastrous finish in Derek Dooley's first year as coach. Starting quarterback Matt Simms sprained his left knee in a 41-10 loss to Alabama last week and spent time in a walking boot. The Vols haven't had this long an SEC losing streak since 2005 with some fans worried about - gulp - going 0-8 by the time it's all down.